You Idiot Extra
by Monte-chan
Summary: Because I just couldn't leave the story alone, here's a place for any sidestory or epilogue of sorts to "You Idiot". I'd recommend reading the story first. NOTE: No matter how many chapters there are, this will always be labeled complete.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: _Thought or Emphasis_; **Flashback**; _**Thought or Emphasis in Flashback**_

I don't own _Teen Titans_, though I wish I owned Warp's time travel machine/suit. I just want to watch cool events in history, though, along with some of my own life I can't remember. Why instead use that kind of power just to steal a fancy clock? That's not the best logic in my book, but hey, Warp _was_ a super-villain. When have they been completely sane?

Enough of this, though. We can make a deal: I stop rambling, while you read and review.

* * *

**Teen Titans: You Idiot…**

Extra

Jacob Kane took a sip of Stardollars coffee to finish his afternoon: black, with two sugars. He skimmed the newspaper in his hands, first checking the sports section. The Jump City Jaguars were winning; _good for them_, he thought. As the break wore down, though, he soon found himself seemingly taking interest in the stocks as a way to glance now and then at the woman at the counter. She was dark skinned, with short hair, brown eyes, and a brilliant smile when she welcomed the customers. Her name, according to the name tag, was Ashley C; technically, her last name was Colbert, but whenever he saw her, he was too flustered to ask for anything besides his order.

Yes, Jacob had a crush. He wondered if she knew about it, as the occasion where she caught him looking was frequent for the past few weeks. At one point, he even forced himself to laugh when she caught him and he saw the comics in his peripheral vision.

"**HAHAHA…heh heh… That's a… good… one… yeah."**

Some might call that thinking on his feet; he called it being a total goof.

This was another one of those times: he looked, she turned, and both locked and averted the other person's eyes. Today was a good day for him, though; this time, he caught her smiling!

This was going on for too long, he realized. It was time to Jacob Reginald Kane to make a move! Yes, today would indeed be a good one, unlike that day a little over a month ago, when a legion of robots led by a bird-like scientist crushed his car into a pancake.

Determined, Jacob took a calming breath, folded up his paper, and stepped out of his seat, hoping to ask Ashley out when the line wore down.

The last customer cleared.

Jacob stepped up to the counter.

He saw those pearly white teeth again as the coffee shop worker opened her mouth…

…and screamed "OH MY GOD!" as a creature fell from the sky, landing with enough impact to flatten the sedan at the curb as well as shatter the café's front window.

The last thing the young corporate flunkie remembered before blacking out from fright at the monster:

_Not my car _again_…_

* * *

The Titans entered the scene by T-Car, passing by a destroyed coffee shop where a man and woman crawled out of the wreckage. The worker consoled the suited man as he wept over the remains of his vehicle.

In the driver seat, a certain half-robot sat slightly peeved at the timing. He was _this_ close from beating Beast Boy in the game he actually bought for his ex-patient, Ninja Monkeys VII.

* * *

"**Dude, that's **_**impossible!**_**"**

**Just minutes before, Beast Boy and Cyborg sat on the living room couch. Their bodies jerked about to the explosions on the massive screen; their calloused thumbs slammed on their GameStation 3 controllers. The human side of one competitor's face slid from focused frown to smile at the sight of his opponent's dwindling life bar. "Aw yeah, I got you now, I got you now! Just one banana peel-shuriken and…"**

**In the next three seconds, the following four events occurred:**

**The alarm blared.**

**Robin erupted into the room.**

**Cyborg turned away, forgetting to press the X button.**

**Beast Boy took advantage. "Ha! Looks like **_**I**_** got **_**you**_**!"**

**Cyborg turned back to see a simian skeleton on screen, the result of the changeling's last minute combo attack. "But… that's…" He could find no other word to describe it but one used beforehand: "**_**Impossible!**_**"**

**The masked Titan attempted to break up the game discussion: "Titans! Trouble!"**

"**Yeah, there's trouble, alright. I'm having trouble getting out of dish duty!" Attempt failed.**

**The green teen gave off a smug fanged grin. "I believe that's ten wins for me, which means you take the next **_**two**_** times at the sink."**

**The loser gave a curse under his breath. "I **_**knew**_** I shouldn't have gone double-or-nothing."**

"**Excuse me, but I believe there is a problem in the city to deal with…" The recently arrived Starfire made a meeker second attempt.**

**Attempt 2 failed, shut down this time by Beast Boy. "Yeah, yeah, keep on crying. You know I rule at this game." **

"**It'd be different if we were playin' on my turf!" The resident mechanic was agitated now. "C'mon! You and me, right now in—"**

"**HEY!" A normally quiet Titan made her entrance by covering the arguing heroes' mouths in black energy. "Are you deaf? We have a job to do, you know." At the word "job", Raven nodded her head to the TV screen, which by now changed into a map of the city area in distress. A picture within the picture displayed the soundless video from a security camera. A large mass blurred across the screen, seemingly roaring at bystanders, and finally looking into the camera before slashing it with its claws.**

**Cyborg gave off an impressed whistle. "We got another big one." Mindful of a specific teammate's condition, he raised the question. "So who's taking him on?"**

**Everyone turned to the team's leader. "Well, we might need the whole team to contain him…"**

"**Alright, some action!" A certain shape-shifter burst from his seat on the couch and headed to the T-Car hangar. "I call shot—"**

"_**But**_**," the boy wonder continued, grabbing Beast Boy's collar, "you haven't fully healed yet."**

"**Aww, come on! Cyborg, you've got my back, right?"**

"**Sorry BB, but he's right," the team medic added. "I think you still got a few weeks left before you get a clean bill of health from me." That was true. Today marked fifteen days since Beast Boy's reawakening, too soon to let him take down a purse-snatcher, let alone a monster.**

"**But I got through training just fine two days ago!" Cyborg allowed him some brief exercise so his muscles would not simply waste away indoors.**

**The alien princess interjected. "Actually, you were breathing quite heavily after the exercise, Beast Boy."**

"**Well… uh…" He hoped no one saw that, as he did it after leaving the training room. Now the youngest Titan was running out of arguments. Therefore, he looked to the one card left to play:**

"**Raven?"**

**The empath looked into his imploring emerald eyes, something in them almost convincing her to bring him along with the team. Maybe she could simply keep a close eye on him, a closer one if things got difficult—**

**Then she remembered the… **_**interesting**_** night on the rooftop. That day he told her why he did what he did, the reason he was off-duty now…**

**She did not even blink as she made her choice.**

"**You're staying here."**

_**Because **_**I**_** care about **_**you**_**.**_

* * *

With the decision that Beast Boy could be okay alone for the time being, and one of them making notes to beat him at Goken 5 later, a quartet of heroes left their blue and silver super-car to see the enemy of their fair city.

The threat in question was obvious, though not exactly easy to describe in a glance. Currently making a brick wall its scratching post, the ten-foot tall figure stood on two legs, but was definitely more bestial than human. It seemed to be a mix of lion and leopard, with a shaggy mane of brown cascading down its spine and a light tan torso, but furry spotted limbs of a light yellow-orange. It even had a long spotted tail.

"So," Raven gave the obvious question in everyone's heads, "How do we beat this… cat-creature?"

As if that was its name, the leopard-lion ceased sharpening its claws and turned to the team. Its growl noted that the beast did not like to be disturbed. Another strong message was its roar, powerful enough to shatter the windows down the path to the Titans and knock all four off their feet.

The disheveled Cyborg, currently lifting his body off Starfire, had a suggestion:

"I say we hit it."

"And hit it hard," Robin added. Whipping out his titanium staff, the leader gave off his trademark cry:

"Titans, GO!"

It started with a coordinated aerial attack, two heroines blasting waves of green and black energy at the monster on either side. Surrounded by a dust cloud, the cat-creature's obscured vision did not foresee the metal fist heading for its gut, nor the staff to the face. However, it did manage to shake off the impacts' effects just long enough to see the electric disk at its feet. By the time the electric current ceased flowing and the smoke cleared, the feline was breathing heavily on its paws and knees.

"That was easier than I thought! Nice job, team." Robin began to make the cleanup call when Cyborg tapped him on the shoulder. He did not hear the technological Titan's words ("Don't speak so soon") over the roar the leopard-lion released.

The boy wonder's gloved hands covered his ears, so he could not react to what was next. Fortunately, Cyborg did it for him—by tossing him out of the way. Before Robin could question that action, a brownish blur zipped by where he once stood and tackled into the metallic Titan. Once on top of him, the cat-creature proceeded to slash at its prey, ripping up any metal armor it could in its claws. A carefully aimed starbolt sent the beast into a nearby wall before it could do any more damage. Another Titan added to the attack, telepathically ramming a piece of asphalt into her opponent.

Nodding thanks to Starfire and Raven, Cyborg got up to catch his breath. He inspected his arms to find them covered in claw marks, just like his shoulders. The metallic mechanic sighed at knowing it would take days to repair. To make things worse, the cat-creature broke itself from the wall, anger still painted on its face. "Oh, _come on!_ You're telling me we're just making it _mad_!"

Robin struggled to make a plan. _He's strong, he's fast, and those claws rip through metal like paper. How can we—_ He got no more time to think, however, as the leopard-lion released another roar. The acrobatic hero dove out of the path of a flurry of bricks propelled by the beast's cry.

Cyborg decided to fight sound with sound by firing his sonic cannon. The sound waves collided with a boom that caused the asphalt beneath to crack and any bystanders brave enough to stay to cover their ears. The half-robot smirked as the blue blast started to gain ground, only for that same smirk to fall as his arm sparked—the attack from before indeed left some damage.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven shouted her mantra and supported the weakening sonic shot with a black wave of her own, but too late; the resonance of the waves reached its maximum, causing an explosion that knocked her into a street lamp. Darkness swept over her vision as she heard Robin's voice shout.

"RAVEN!"

* * *

The first sense to return was pain. Slowly sitting up, the half-demoness winced as she became aware of the bruise forming on the back of her head. She spit out a bit of blood as well; the other source of pain was her tongue, the tip of which she bit on impact with the streetlight.

The next was hearing. A yell of "You get away from her!" mixed with a beast's bellow blasted into her consciousness, causing the heroine to focus her blurred vision to her left.

Said vision was the last sense to return, images clearing into the scene before the Titan's violet eyes. The one who cried out earlier was Robin, who at this point struggled to stand on his feet, using his staff as a crutch. His protest seemed to be unheard by the still screaming cat-creature, who held in its large paws the reason for worry, an unconscious Starfire. Raven reasoned that the monster somehow trapped Starfire, leaving her open to its attack. It would seem that even the princess powerhouse could not handle long exposure to the sonic blast at such close range.

Cyborg, in the meantime, lay buried under rubble. To be more specific, the remains of a fallen brick wall trapped him up to his waist, immobilizing him. Blue sparks crackled from his busted sonic cannon, and the one hand in its normal form slammed on the cracked sidewalk at his condition.

The cat-creature itself looked haggard, with blackened fur and a few cuts about its body; though it had not slowed considerably during the battle, it definitely received its share of attacks. Even the feline foe's tail seemed bent out of place.

That may have been, however, because black energy twisted it and yanked it in a certain direction.

Releasing a yowl, the beast turned that way to see a pale teenager with her left hand covered in an onyx glow. The predator quickly tossed away the motionless prey in its paws; Starfire mercifully landed into her boyfriend's open arms and fell down with him.

Standing shakily, the Azarathean heaved both hands forward and shot off a blast of the same magic as before, forcing the monster back a few inches. The feline shook it off, though seeming to huff a bit.

Raven noticed. _It's wearing us down… but maybe I can wear it down first._

She focused one last time to give all she had. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" The mantra accompanied a thick pillar of power, crashing into the leopard-lion that defiantly pressed back. Mental might waged a war against bestial brawn. One gave ground, only to reclaim a bit. The process repeated again, and again.

The conflict felt like hours for the magic-wielder, causing questions to form, questions that certainly went against the clear mind she needed to fight back. Was the beast's inexplicable rage making it stronger? Why was it this angry in the first place? Was it following a master in some savage way? Was it protecting some perceived territory so fiercely?

Questions about the beast took a back seat to another, more immediate, more important question:

_Will I make it out of this?_

Just as the pillar of energy broke and disappeared, and the cat-creature rushed forward, the weary Titan's question received her answer.

Rolled up into a ball, an emerald armadillo flew from the right and intercepted the speeding monster's face before bouncing off and into a different direction. The cat-creature stumbled and fell, but dizzily recovered to see what stopped its slaughter.

Said opponent unfurled from its ball form and transformed into a gorilla in flight, using his momentum to swing around a light post and launch at the other beast. The green ape slammed hundreds of pounds into the monster in a furious tackle.

The cat-creature tried to rip its aggressor off, but the verdant mass shifted once more into a new shape, wrapping around the enemy's neck in the form of a ten-foot python. The feline's breath soon grew short; due to the drawn-out battle, the creature felt its lungs ache in but a few moments. One animal prepared to pry off the other with sheer strength, raising both hands, but soon found them bound by an accurately thrown titanium-fiber bola, the only one in the thrower's possession. The acrobatic Titan gave a smirk, glad to get some revenge for hurting the loved one in his occupied arm.

Rather than its usual roar of wrath, the cat-creature could only struggle out a hoarse cry and tug against its bonds in futile resistance. A few seconds later, the only sound from the monster was that of its impact after collapsing from lack of oxygen. Sensing that its quarry was unconscious, the python released the tension in its body and changed shape into a familiar face.

Beast Boy stood over the source of the Titans' troubles with a sigh of relief… and a fanged smirk of victory.

Raven took a moment to close her slacked jaw before calling the usual cleanup crew: the Jump City Police.

* * *

"ROBIN!" The red-haired Tameranean pressed her bandaged boyfriend into her bosom. Words flurried from her worried mouth. "Are you still hurting? Should I call the hospital? Oh, please do not leave us!"

"I'm fine, Star." Robin stifled a groan as his super-strong loved one embraced him a little too much. It did not help that one arm was bruised along with some ribs due to a bad landing during the fight, hence the bandages' locations on his left side.

Nevertheless, he gave a rare smile to cheer Starfire up. "Seriously—_ow!_—I'll be okay. We all will, right, guys?" He waited for an affirmation, but only got some pained muttering from his teammates.

The Titans were back in the living room, this time worse off than when they left. Fortunately, thanks to some sparse healing sessions by Raven and Cyborg's miraculous patch-jobs on both himself and them, they would be up to full strength in a few days.

As mentioned, Raven's healing sessions would be sparse, because she had a slight injury of her own; a welt formed since her encounter with the street lamp. The pain would assert itself from time to time, like right now, and her hand reflexively reached up.

Seeing this, Beast Boy came to her aid, handing his serious friend an icepack. "Are you okay?"

The violet-haired sorceress gave a monotone dismissal. "Like Robin said, we'll be fine. This'll heal." She unwisely leaned her head back onto the couch before wincing forward. "_Ow!_"

"Raven!" Despite the fact he was on the other side of the couch, the changeling closed the gap immediately. He did not even realize he was holding her forward, arm on one shoulder, until he found himself unable to speak.

Raven, however, became quite aware of the sudden presence of green in her personal space. A delicate turn to her left would put their faces in line. If he leaned in a bit closer, she realized, he could… they could—

"S-so!" A green-eyed Titan reclaimed his cracking voice, backing up to the nearby cushion. The half-robot who moved over barely restrained a chuckle at the whole scene. The technological Titan took an elbow nudged into his side that did little effect.

After hearing Cyborg do a false cough to clear his throat, Beast Boy tried to piece a thought together again. "So… How'd I do for a sick guy?"

Recently pulled over her head, an indigo hood concealed Raven's expression (and previously flushed cheeks) from the changeling. "Well… I would have to say… that was…"

The youngest Titan's chest puffed up with pride.

"The most irresponsible, reckless—_stupidest_ thing I've ever seen in my entire life!"

His chest deflated. "Wha… huh?"

"What were you _thinking_? Did you think you could take that thing on your own? You're still healing, in case you didn't remember that!" Her voice kept her emotion hidden, but her eyes said something else. Angry amethyst bore into confused verdant as the half-demoness stood over him. "If the rest of us hadn't have weakened the cat-creature before you got there, you would have gone down with us!"

The so-called daredevil finally caught on and stared right back. "What I _thought_ was that I should help my friends!" When he stood to face her equally, Raven realized that they were actually the same height. _When did he grow this much?_

She broke away from this thought as the green teen continued. "In case _you_ didn't remember, the other security cameras were still on before you left! I saw Cyborg pounced on by that lion-thing, then that huge explosion—I don't know how that didn't break the cameras. Then I saw you lying there…" His eyes averted hers in recalling the image.

"The point is, I'm not gonna let some giant pussycat or anything else make a meal out of you—_any_ of you! Not when I can do something about it!"

Eyes locked in a conflict of glares, neither backing down. Robin and the others merely watched the standoff, curious about its ending. Even the large Cyborg slid back a bit to escape some of the tension. He hoped that a certain Titan would not end up lost in a dark dimension after this.

Suddenly, it was over. The one to give ground was Raven. "Sorry. I guess I was just… concerned." Violet orbs turned away in admittance. "And…well…Thanks."

"Yes, we are all thankful!" The red-haired heroine burst from her seat, painfully bringing Robin up with her. "Oh! I am sorry!"

"Nice job, grass stain." The metallic Titan patted his smaller friend on the back, almost putting his head in a collision course with Raven's—or it would have, did she not anticipate this and put up a thin shield off which bounced his skull. "Heh. Sorry, B." Beast Boy sniffled an "it's okay" while checking his nose for bleeding.

Helping up the poor boy off the ground, Raven expressed a passing thought. "You know, this means you saved my life twice in a row. We're not even."

"Don't worry about it! With me being so _reckless_," Beast Boy reused a word of hers, "you'll probably save my butt a hundred times over. Besides, I got enough of a reward that time on the roo—"

A pale hand slapped over the shape-shifter's mouth, but by then it was too late.

"The roof?" Cyborg raised the question with a sly grin. "Just what happened on the roof between you two?" Starfire flew over and listened closely, wondering if the relationship between her two comrades was anything like the one between her and Robin. Though one could not see his eyes, looking closely at the ex-sidekick's mask would show that one "eye" rose higher than the other one; even he was interested.

Thanks to a timely arrival, he saved a teammate from the finishing blow of a cat-creature. Thanks to a slip of the tongue, however, today's hero faced a new enemy: the inquiring looks of his friends.

"Uh… you see…"

While Beast Boy began to crack under the pressure, Raven sighed and palmed her own face.

Only one thought came to mind:

_You idiot…_

**END**

* * *

**Hello again, everybody. I know it's been about 10 months since I made anything related to my fic "You Idiot", but I guess I just couldn't leave this story alone. I've had this idea lingering about since last college semester, and I wanted to see if I could put in a good fight. Then the roof reference just popped up a few days ago, and... well, here it is.**

**This is something of an... epilogue? A sequel? Not sure, which is why I labeled it an "extra". If anyone has any other ideas for side stories, let me know, and maybe I'll put them in here. Right now, I'm envisioning a jealousy segment for my two favorite Titans, just trying to mentally fill in some blanks before I type it (I want the writing to have a little length, you know?). Maybe I'll see you then? Well, whatever happens, hang loose and/or stay solid.**

**'Til next time, my Titanic readers.**


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: _Thought or Emphasis_; **Flashback**; **_Thought or Emphasis in Flashback_**

I don't own _Teen Titans_. But I do own this idea; it's something that's been stewing in my head while I think of yet another story. A sequel, perhaps? I'll let you think on that one. In the meantime, read and review.

* * *

**Teen Titans: You Idiot...**

Extra 2

A slender schoolgirl stepped onto Murakami High School's front yard with a groan, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. There was way too much homework for it to be this early in the school year. Pushing a golden strand of hair to the side, she took a glimpse at the trees just outside the brick walls. A blend of red, orange, and green painted their leaves. For some reason, though, she felt she would miss the color green, which would fade or fall away from the foliage in a few months. Fallen leaves crunched under her oxfords as she walked, though she could barely hear it under the clamor of other leaving students.

The barred gates waited patiently, already opened since the bell. Just as the teen passed through the opening, however, a friend of hers from last year caught her attention. "Me and Larry are heading to the pizza place. Wanna come with?"

"Sorry, Stacy, can't right now. Johnson's a real slave-driver." The girl adjusted the burden on her back for effect.

"I know, right?" The bob-haired redhead chuckled. "Why do we even have English if we know how to speak it?"

"One of life's great mysteries." Her giggle with Stacy stopped as blue eyes noticed an unusually formed shadow behind the tree across the street... a shadow with violet eyes.

"You sure you can't come? You've been really spacey since last spring."

The question broke the blonde's concentration. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm sure." The shadow nodded, showing that it acknowledged her as well.

"There's someone I think I should see, anyway."

* * *

Jump City Park was fairly empty, despite the warm weather. Cool winds blew the hair of two teenage girls as they inhabited the shade of a large tree, one leaning against its trunk, the other sitting with her legs folded.

Only a stone statue of John "Jump" Geoffrey, late founder of the namesake city, would quietly observe their conversation from a distance. Historians described him as a skilled writer and artist before his time as the mayor, especially fascinated with heroes in his works. No one is sure, however, why his contemporaries gave him the nickname. "I kinda like that statue," the schoolgirl mused.

"It's okay, I suppose." The figure of the founder did not particularly interest the violet-haired teen; she founded her interests in more ancient history, that which represented the roots of her skills.

"So," turning blue orbs to meet purple ones, "another of the great and powerful Teen Titans tries to make my acquaintance. Raven, right?" The questioned one nodded. "I see you guys on the news sometime, and there was that one time up close. Oh, and speaking of monsters, nice job with that lion-thing a few weeks back, by the way."

Raven was tempted to try to correct the girl on the beast's specific name, before realizing that even weeks after its defeat, it did not really have one. _The... Cat-Creature, I think?... Who cares. _"Thanks. It was a team effort."

"I wasn't there to see it, but I heard from a girl in my class who was actually there. She said you guys were going nuts on that thing and couldn't keep it down, but then Beast Boy swooped in out of nowhere and _bam!_" Her fist landed into her palm to mimic the impact. "Right in the head! He even wrestled it down and-" Arms still in the air to imitate the grapple, the golden-locked teen realized the person to whom she reported. "Well, you were there, actually, so you kind of know."

"Yeah, that's him, diving in head-first." The magic-wielding Titan accidentally vocalized her thought. "Still kept your enthusiasm, I see."

"Yeah, maybe I have."

Raven did not expect her to answer.

"You know, it wasn't until after Beast Boy came that the memories started coming back." The girl fiddled with the fringe of her skirt, a nervous habit. "Names, faces... bad guys..." Eyes darted downward and her grip on the end tightened as a two-toned mask came to mind. She was not exactly sure who it was, but... she shook the image off.

"These last few months have been so... _crazy_ for me. First, when Beast Boy started going off about how he knew me, I thought that maybe all that fighting got to him, maybe I just looked a lot like this 'Terra' girl — I mean, they say there's a double for everyone, right? But then..." Blue orbs widened in recollection. "I had these dreams; dreams of stuff that never happened; places I've never been; things I never did."

She looked up at the tree, its leaves raining down as the result of a stronger breeze. "I mean, just think about it! A whole other life! And I wasn't just a nobody, I wasn't just some Jane Doe someone picked up out of the hospital and sent to school. I was... a _superhero_! Of _all things_, a superhero! With super_powers_!" The schoolgirl — or, somewhat, Terra — grasped and shook Raven's shoulders, a gaze of sparkling cerulean boring into surprised amethyst. "One of _you_! I shouldn't even _be_ this comfortable talking to you, but here we are, like friends who haven't talked since forever!"

Suddenly, the blonde's vision seemed to go off into the distance. "Even though your powers are all black, you wear blue instead because it's one of your favorite colors."

She returned to reality. "It just happened again! You told me that!" A short laugh escaped upon the reveal, still right in Raven's face.

The enthusiastic teen let the other girl go and lay back against the tree with a sigh, the words finally off her chest. She held it in for so long, figuring no one in her circle would understand such a concept. However, perhaps a superhero, someone with origins as Raven, might think it was possible.

"He was telling the truth. Even after all this time, I can barely believe it, but... he was telling the truth."

Though ruffled from "Terra's" intense shaking of her form, the cloaked heroine kept her head and simply explained from experience: "Beast Boy has this way of changing your mind about things."

_Like my view about you,_ she kept to herself. Though the half-demoness lost her trust in the earth-moving traitor in that past life, a certain hero's refusal to give up on her and her final valiant action changed Raven's opinion. As the green teen once told them, Terra wasn't just a criminal; she was their friend. Perhaps some remnant of the bond still remained, since a familiar mixture of uneasiness and camaraderie lingered within the dark Titan's self when around her right now.

Said feeling may have driven her to say the next words to the semi-stranger. "He almost died last summer."

"WHAT?" Raven winced, ears ringing and mind realizing her words were not the best transition. Had Terra ever screamed at that high a pitch before? "I can't believe no one told me! What happened?"

"Well... it started when these robots attacked downtown..." Raven told her the short story, from the androids to the album. The former heroine's mouth gaped at hearing her "ex"-friend's condition. The sorceress neglected to state some more... private aspects of the incident; she never told her that she cried at his bedside, and she would _never_ tell anyone outside of the original Titan team (who already knew thanks to an emerald idiot's slip of the tongue) what happened on the roof.

"_Wow_. That's so..." The blonde took a moment to reflect. "Well, for one thing, it's cool."

"Yeah, I guess it is... cool." Even after a few years on Earth and learning seven different languages, Raven felt such slang odd on her tongue. Somehow, though, she deemed it suited the overall situation.

"But it's also so sweet! I mean, the guy literally took a bullet for you! Well, not a literal bullet, but you get what I mean..." Words poured from the faucet that was "Terra's" mouth.

Raven sighed. She should have expected this. In the moments the two spent together back then, Terra was pretty talkative.

"Soooo... Do you like him?"

The following silence was only interrupted by a bird's chirp, then a reply. "...What?"

Yes, much too talkative.

"Come on; don't lie to an 'old friend'." The schoolgirl giggled at her own joke, not knowing the semi-irony of the last two words. "I saw that look on your face when you talked about him. You were going to pieces back then, weren't you?"

If any emotion did show on Raven's face, it vanished under the curtain of her classic stone-cold glare. "You heard the story. He is my teammate. I was mainly concerned for the team's welfare. It was different without him. Things were difficult without him." The glare slipped for only a second as she replayed her choice of words. "The fights, I mean."

The sorceress did not even realize that her explanation stretched on, far beyond the simple awkward, blushing "yes" or angry, defiant "no" the blonde expected. "That day showed me that he would always watch my back, and I trust him to do so in any situation. Even if he is..." The granite visage softened again with the lightest of smirks as she glanced at the afternoon sky, "strange, and annoying, and loud, I know he's there for me. And I will always be there for him.

"If anything between us right now, it's friendship." It became easier for Raven to say to herself each time. "Yes. He's my friend."

Raven brought herself back to look at the ex-heroine, only to find that "Terra's" face could be as hard to decipher as the other Titans often found her own. Golden locks partially draped over one side, creating even more of a veil to her reaction. _Is she reliving another memory?_ Raven hesitated to decipher her emotions, considering the schoolgirl's feelings might fluctuate too rapidly between each vision. Fortunately, her face eventually focused on one expression: a smile. "Well, yeah, that much I can figure! These bits and pieces in my head tell me that."

Confused blue slipped from behind two parted locks. "I'm almost... jealous?" The blonde shook her head clear, realizing her current hairstyle and setting the troublesome tresses behind her ears. "Eh, whatever. I'll figure it out later."

The empath decided to change from such a distracting subject. "Enough about him. Why don't you tell me about your life?"

"It's definitely not as eventful as yours, but I guess it's okay. At least, school is." With that in mind, "Terra" described some of the teachers and schoolmates she met over the last year:

Coach Menville, her PE instructor, was demanding, but respected for his athletic skills (he was an alleged Olympic candidate for the pole-vault, among other games);

Her partner in art class, Nina Walch, was always smiling, even when paint spilled off the canvas and onto her clothes (the fashion enthusiast called it a new, "spontaneous" design);

Dr. Cipes seemed more inclined to be a mad scientist than a chemistry instructor, but most of his students took the quirks as part of his teaching method;

Many in her school were afraid of the large Larry Payton, but the blonde found the football player to be a gentle soul... with a strong handshake;

Stacy Strong seemed a bit gloomy at the oddest moments, but most of the time had a fun personality, especially around the rosette's inner circle, which included Larry and the speaker.

However, the narrating student was sure one teacher had some kind of vendetta against her: Ms. Johnson, the English teacher. She marked a particular event as the origin. Turning in a quiz paper to the desk, the blonde had caught the secretive woman writing a letter, seemingly addressed to a certain strange science teacher. Upperclassmen rumored the two were close outside of school, but she would fervently deny any theory of a relationship. Now there was proof.

"I swore after class I wouldn't tell a soul, but she's been watching over my shoulder ever since, like she doesn't want people to know about her real self or something. I don't think Cipes cares though."

Raven chuckled lightly, imagining a particular Titan's winking face; Cyborg would have said some kind of quip right now, nudging her shoulders very conspicuously. _"Hmm, a quiet girl denying her feelings for a weird guy... remind you of anyone, Raven?"_

The schoolgirl did not get the real message behind the Titan's reaction, and chuckled as well. "Yeah, it is kind of funny."

Suddenly, she knew there was something missing. "Anyway, there's one thing that's been nagging me all this time. It's kind of blunt, but..."

"It's fine, tell me."

"Why did you decide to talk to me today?"

"Well..." Raven could have explained the situation from a few days ago. Both sitting in the living room to each one's own devices, she caught Beast Boy's face fall while looking at the photo album, also noticing the page on which he paused. The moment lasted only a few seconds, but the empath knew that his heart still felt the loss for quite some time. The flicker of emotion she detected from him reminded her of his attempt to convince the Titans that Terra returned. He was so sure, that he even ditched the rest of the team, which was fighting some substance-absorbing creature at the time. _I hated that fight..._

Raven could have explained how his reaction to the face in the album convinced her to revisit the area downtown, more or less finding the school through luck and making a quick decision to talk to "Terra" upon being spotted.

Again, Raven _could_ have explained all of this. Instead she kept it simple.

"It was sort of an accident."

"Maybe it was. Or maybe this little get-together is part of some weird destiny." The schoolgirl's azure gaze extended to the afternoon skies. "Maybe I'm meant to meet a few, or even _all_ of you guys to find out about my old life." Then her vision dove to the grass at her feet. "Maybe I'll never really know what happened."

_You used to be our comrade,_ the violet-topped Titan wanted to say. _You used to work alongside us before you betrayed us all. Then you _saved_ us all._ Raven wanted to say it, but it was not right to deal such knowledge to her, at least not yet. No good could come knowing about such a past all at once. She could overload from long-buried feelings, hurt herself doing old actions that were easily learned during her old life, but could weaken or cripple her in her current state.

Thus, Raven merely placed a hand on the distressed girl's shoulder, causing her to raise her head. "Don't give up. You'll find out one day. And when that day comes, when you've uncovered all you can about your past..."

The empath's normally still face displayed a rare, closed-lipped smile. "I know you'll be stronger for it."

"You're right. Thanks, Raven." The blonde straightened up. Those familiar with her in a different life would recognize the spirit in her eyes. "Hey, maybe when you retire from your superhero thing, you can work as a school counselor!"

A light laugh escaped. "_You_ may be doing fine there, but I don't think that kind of environment is for me." The logic was simple to Raven: a half-demoness who needs to constantly keep her emotions in check lest she annihilate her surroundings, set in a high school overcrowded with emotional young people? Such an idea was fantasy.

By the time the laughter from both girls died out, the sky was an orange hue near the horizon, with green and purple painting across the clouds as well. "Terra" noticed this and realized the time. "It's getting late, so I should probably head off now." She reset her backpack to its rightful (and somewhat painful) place. "This homework's gonna keep me up for a while." A smile reasserted itself on her face, draped on either side by long golden hair. "Hope to see you again one of these days... you know, when this mind-craziness is over."

With that, the ex-heroine left off to continue her life, leaving an old friend with a bit more hope, a friend who gave a sincere "Until then."

However, there was one last thing of note left hanging in the air. It was an easy question, one the pale Titan should have asked a long time ago. _Of course! How could I have missed this before? _"Wait! There's one more thing." The schoolgirl heard and turned around.

"What is your name now? That is, I don't think I should be calling you by your old one if it doesn't apply."

"Huh? Oh, duh, that. It's a funny thing, really. It's actually-"

**BOOM.**

A shockwave muffled out the sound from the blonde's mouth, also rumbling the earth such that Raven could not even read her lips. It did not matter much anyway; the girl did not even finish saying the name before both her thought process and balance failed from the sound. "W-what was that?"

"Trouble." A theme song confirmed that prediction seconds later. One hand entered into the folds of her cloak, and a goofy green hero soon displayed himself on the heroine's now open communicator. "Hey, Raven! Some spaceship just landed downtown and..." Beast Boy caught a glimpse of a different face on the edge of his screen. "Hey, is that-"

"I already know about the problem. Tell the others I'll be there." The sorceress closed the communicator shut before the changeling could complete his sentence, then turned to the schoolgirl. "I suppose it's my time to go too. Take care of yourself."

"You too, Raven. Good luck." The Titan now took to the skies, ready to face the threat...

...but not before the girl gave a last word of her own. "Oh, and Raven?"

"Yes?"

"Tell Beast Boy... Terra says hi."

**END**

* * *

**I know I said last chapter that jealousy was to be the main point of _this_ chapter... but I certainly didn't expect to ever write this. The idea just came out of nowhere. I typed a little something of the school, and the next thing you know, I found that I couldn't leave this alone.**

**I hate leaving things unfinished. So even when I didn't have an idea, I always left the Open Office document page open. After who knows how many weeks, this was the result.**

**Something still... gets to me. But if I ever do find out what it is, I can always edit it. I just hope you've enjoyed what I do have for you, and click that little button at the bottom of the page.**

**Oh, and see if you can catch the comic and animated series references sprinkled in there! (Ex: Flip the first and last name of Jump City's founder for an accomplished person in DC Comics.)**

**'Til next time, my Titanic readers.**


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